Sony talks about the 4K display on the Xperia Z5 Premium

Sony’s Xperia Z5 range will be launching soon in Australia, with the Xperia Z5 and Z5 Compact first up, but there is much interest in the Xperia Z5 Premium which is sporting a worlds first in a 4K resolution screen on a phone. The 4K resolution display has many folks asking questions about quality of video, the battery life and more and Sony has spoken a little about the screen to assuage any uneasy feelings.

The phone will of course take advantage of the 4K display when it has 4K content, such as Netflix or home video you’ve captured, to display, but when not displaying 4K content such as when you’re in apps or on the home screen the phone simply runs at 1080P resolution. Sony explains that this lower resolution display is to save battery or as Sony says ‘simply optimise performance, power consumption and battery stamina so you can use the device for up to two days without charging’.

Sony also mentions that things such as screenshots are at 1080P as Android doesn’t support 4K screen capture:

At present, Android Lollipop (Xperia Z5 Premium’s launch OS) doesn’t support 4K screen capture, so all screen shots are rendered in Full HD

There’s also the burning question of ‘Why a 4K resolution screen?’ and Sony has an answer for that:

Xperia Z5 Premium features a sharp, vivid 5.5” Ultra HD display, bringing Sony’s 4K BRAVIA technologies to a smartphone for the first time. It offers a viewing experience four times the resolution of Full HD, delivering a more lifelike, richer viewing experience achieved in three core areas: a dense 806ppi resolution; vivid colour with TRILUMINOS Display for mobile, Dynamic Contrast Enhancer for contrast and X-Reality for crystal clear clarity.

Sony also has plans for Virtual Reality applications with the Xperia Z5 Premium saying:

We also believe Xperia Z5 Premium is capable of offering the clearest, sharpest Virtual Reality platform – we’re working on a few things here internally, so stay tuned for more news soon.

With an awesome camera, a great design and top-notch specs, including a 3,430mAh battery promising 2-day battery life, the Xperia Z5 Premium is shaping up to be the premium smartphone to beat this year. Sony will be rolling the Xperia Z5 Premium out in November and we can’t wait to see it.

Daniel Tyson Editor

Dan is a die-hard Android fan. Some might even call him a lunatic. He's been an Android user since Android was a thing, and if there's a phone that's run Android, chances are he owns it (his Nexus collection is second-to-none) or has used it.

Dan's dedication to Ausdroid is without question, and he has represented us at some of the biggest international events in our industry including Google I/O, Mobile World Congress, CES and IFA.

Can’t wait to see the screen in person…
As an editor/cinematographer of 4K content, this will be great fun.

Although I have to ping Sony on their marketing hype:
4K is not “four times the resolution of Full HD”. It is 4 times the amount of pixels, but resolution is measured in horizontal lines, so at 2160p it is twice the resolution of HD.

Marketing and confusion aside. This is great.
It would be amazing to use this as a tiny UHD monitor. Mounted to a cinema camera and receiving its signal, it would make a great on set display for a focus puller, etc.